Collapsible tube and other containers



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CGLLAPSIBLE TUBE AND OTHER COETAIkiEF.

Original Filed March 22, 1923 INVENTOR %/PC(/J 6f 1957/0/14 W AT ToRNEY Patented Apr. 23, 1929.

UNITED STATES MARCUS B. BEHRMAIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COLLAPSIBLE TUBE AND OTHER CONTAINERS,

Original application filed March 22, 1923, Serial No. 626,978. Divided and this application filed August 3, 1926. Serial No. 126,786.

This application is a division of a prior application filed March 22, 1923, Serial N 0. 626,978.

This invention relates to collapsible tubes and other containers of the class having an externally threaded discharge neck and an internally threaded closure-cap therefor, such tubes and containers usually being employed for holding toilet and other prepara tions.

An object of the invention is to provide novel, simple and efficient means for preventing the complete detachment of the cap from the container, while at the same time permitting the cap to be screwed upon and olt' from the neck of the container in the usual manner.

Various means have heretofore been em ployed for preventing the complete separation of a screw-cap from such a tube, but in most cases these prior constructions have either added prohibitive cost to the production of the tube or they have been attended with various inconveniences in use, and in those cases where a wire has been employed such wire connections are more or less complicated and a maximum amount of wire is required.

In accordance with the present invention, very simple and inexpensive means are employed for l'iolding the screw-cup against detachment from the tube, while at the same time the cap is adapted to be applied to and removed from the neck of the tube in the ordinary manner, and when wire is employed a minimum amount of wire is necessitated.

The present invention preferably comprisesa container having a discharge neck whose outer portion is externally screw threaded and whose inner portion is free from threading, an internally screw-thread ed cap to engage the thread of the neck, and means for attaching the cap to the container comprising a hinge member rigid with the cap and a second hinge member engaged therewith and t urnable and slidable on the unthrcaded portion of the neck. the inner edgeof the threaded portion of the neck affording a shoulder to arrest the second hinge member against undue outward movement on the neck.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists of certain features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and then claimed with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred and a modilicd form of the invention, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a tube of the preferred form with the present improvements applied;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the cap portion of the tube as viewed from another angle;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 except that the cap is shown as about to receive the pintle portion of the wire loop;

Fig. 4 is a section partly in elevation, show ing the screw-cap unscrewed from the neck of the tube;

Fig. 5 is a plan of the parts as shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the preferred form of wire device for mounting the cap on the tube;

Fig. 7 a section, partly in elevation, showing a modification; and a Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the modified attaching device for mounting the cap on the tube.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, the collapsible tube 10 1s provided with a frustroconical top portion 11 from which extends the discharge neck 12. The discharge neck is provided with an externally screw-threadcd outer portion 13 and between the same and the portion 11 of the tube the neck is formed with an unthreaded guiding portion 14; which is preferably straight and plain and hence free from any projections. I

The cap 15 is provided with an internal screw-thread 16, and at the top of the socket provided with the screw-thread there is preferably a disk 17 of cushioning or yielding material, The neck 12 has the usual discharge orifice common to collapsible tubes and containers, and said neck and the cap, except for the features of the present invention, may be of the usual or any suitable construction. The guiding portion 14 is prefer ably an incidental feature of the present invention.

Preferably, under the present invention, the attaching member for holding the cap on the tube against displacement other than the screwing off of the cap to open the tube, is composed of wire and its preferable construction is shown in the perspective view Fig. 6. Such attaching member comprises a loop 18 which, if the neck portion is circular, is of slightly greater diameter than the diameter of said portion 14, so as to permit of the movement of the loop 18 on said neck portion 14. The loop 18 is preferably not a closed loop but its ends are spaced apart, and from its ends there extend in a plane substantially parallel with the plane of the loop a pair of extensions 19, 19, from the outer ends of which there extend at substantially right angles to the plane of the loop and said extensions 19, 19, arms 20, 20, which at their ends are provided with inturned portions 21, 22. The parts 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 are all preferably formed from one piece of spring wire, and the inturned portions 21, 22 are adapted to come together in alinement under the influence of the spring action.

The cap 15 is provided at one side of its socket with a lug 23 which is preferably perforated laterally so that said lug constitutes an eye, the lug preferably being formed integrally with the cap. The perforation ofthe lug or eye 23-forms a bearing for a pintle composed of the wire ends 21, 22 engaged therein. It will be seen, therefore, that the lug or eye 23 constitutes a rigid hinge member on the cap 15, and that the wire device illustrated in Fig. 6, constitutes another hinge member, this being mounted on the neck of the container.

To rovide a collapsible or other tube 10 with t epreferred form of the invention, the loop 18 is passed over the threaded portion 13 of the neck and disposed around the unthreaded or guiding portion 14 at the base of the neck. The lug or eye 23 of the cap 15 is then positioned between the pintle portions 21, 22 of the wire attaching device while the said portions are held separated, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the perforation in the lug or eye is in registry with the pintle portions 21, 22, whereupon the latter may be released and will spring into the perforations, so that the parts are assembled, as shown in Fig. 2. Of course the assembling may be done otherwise. For example, the cap 15 may first be screwed onto the neck and the wire device then be sprung 'onto the portion 14 of the neck, and the pintle portions 21,22 sprung into the perforation of the lug or eye 23; The parts involved in the improvements may therefore be readily assembled with the tube.

The cap 15 having been connected with the tube by means of the attaching member, it is clear that when the cap is unscrewed the loop 18 will turn with it around the neck portion 14, and as said neck portion is of suitable extended length, the loop 18 will slide thereon towards the screw-threaded portion 13 of the neck. The shoulder furnished by the first turn of the screw-thread 13 above the portion 14, constitutes an abutment for the loop and precludes the disengagement of the loop from the neck, as illustrated in Fig. 4, and when the cap has been unscrewed it may be swung back to open the tube, as illustrated in when they are said figure, and the contents of t' e tube may be utilized. \Vhen the. cap is swung back it will swing of the pintle furnished by the wire portions 21, 22 and may be then screwed onto the neck 12 causing the loop 18 to turn with it, and said loop will follow the inward movement of the cap and be guided inwardly upon the unthrea ded neck portion 14. The manner of mounting the cap on the neck of the container is such that the pivotal connection between them extends tangentially of the cap and of the neck, so that the cap may be swung outwardly immediately it is disengaged from the neck.

It is obvious that the preferred wire attaching means for connecting the cap with the tube is of extreme simplicity; that a minimum of wire is employed because the lug or eye of one hinge member is rigid with the cap and is substantially within the confines of the cap; that because of the fact that the lug or eye is on the cap, the distance between the extreme dimensions of the wire device is comparatively short; that the loop of the wire is of such proportions that it is not loose except within the restricted requirements, and that because a minimum amount of wire is employed in the wire device it is not apt to be bent out of shape and become unsightly; that the loop and the rest of the wire device are so formed and proportioned that the wire device and the cap are not wobbly in a general sense; and that because of the preferred imi form of the invention the cap is connected I with the neck by means of a spring loop or stirrup 24, which is of generally ring outline and more than half way encircles the unthreaded or guiding portion of the neck. The ends of the loop or stirrup are separated from each other a suitable distance by a space 25, adapting the loop or stirrup to be opened out sufficiently so that it may be sprung upon the neck of the container. That portion of the loop or stirrup 24 directly opposite to the space 25 has an outwardly offset member 26 from which an arm 27 extends upwardly, said arm, having an opening 28, which pro vides on said arm a. transverse tion 29. I

The cap is provided with a short strip 30, preferably integral therewith, which is curled upwardly to form initially an open eye. Before the eye to be formed by the strip 30 is produced, the end of the said strip is inserted through the opening 28 and the strip the pintle 29 formed at is then curled over rigid with one side of the cap and a second the upper end of the arm 27, thereby producing a closed eye whereby the cap and the loop or stirrup 24 are connected together or assembled and may be handled as a unit.

, In the modified form of the invention the cap is retained on the tube Without detachment when the cap is unscrewed from the neck in much the same manni as in connection with the preferred form of the invention.

It is obvious that the described and illustrated invention is capable of other modifications without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new is:

1. A container of the character described having a discharge neck whose .outer portion is externall screw-threaded and whose inner portion is ree from threading, an internally screw-threaded cap to engage the thread of the neck, and means for attaching the cap to the container, comprising a hinge member rigid with the cap and a second hinge member engaged therewith and turnable and slidable on said inner portion of the neck, the hinge member on the cap being integral there with and formed into an eye, the second hinge member having a pintle bearing in said eye, and the inner edge of the threaded portion of the neck affording a shoulder to arrest the second hinge member against undue outward movement on the neck, the hinge connection extending tangentially of the cap and second hinge member, whereby the cap may be swung outwardly as soon as it is disengaged from the neck.

2. A container of the character described having a discharge neck whose outer portion is externally screw-threaded and whose inner portion is free from threading, an internally screw-threaded cap to engage the thread of the neck, and means for attaching the cap to the container, comprising a hinge member hinge member composed of wire formed into an annular loop and an angular portion having a pintle extending tangentially of the loop and bearing in the hinge member on the cap, said loop being turnable and slidable on, the inner portion of the neck, and the inner edge of the threaded portion of the neck affording a, shoulder to arrest the loop against undue outward movement on the neck.

3. A container of the character described having a discharge neck whose outer portion is externally screw-threaded and whose inner portion is free'from threading, an internally screw-threaded cap to engage the thread of the neck, and means for attaching the cap to the container, comprising a hinge member rigid with the cap and a second hinge member composed of wire formed into a loop and with arms having aligned inturncd ends, said arms providing an angular portion and said inturned ends affording a pintle bearing in the hinge member on the cap, said loop being turnable and slidable on the inner portion of the neck, and the inner edge of the threaded portion of the neck affording a shoulder to arrest the loop against undue outward movement on the neck.

4. The improvement in containers of the character described, comprising an annular loop having an angular portion and formed of spring wire, the angular portion consisting of arms bent at an angle to the loop and having aligned inturncd ends aflording a pint-1e, whereby the ends are adapted to be sprung together to engage a hinge member.

5. The improvement in containers of the character described, comprising a threaded cap having a rigid, tangentially opening, eye thereon, and a hinge member composed of spring wire formed into a loop and arms, said arms having alined' pintle portions to be sprung together into said eye and constitute a pintle.

MARCUS B. BEHRMAN. 

